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Brass or Steel


dcaldwell7tn
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Good day to Everyone!!!!  and, yes, I am a newbie to this site...but not a newbie to trains. For years, as a youngster, I dabbled with the HO scale with indoor layouts. Now, at 51, I am into the Garden size G scale trains.  All my track, ( 96 pieces), is LGB steel track, #15000, and #11000...(straight and curve track). I am currently looking for 2 switches. My dilemma is that, so far all the switches I am finding are that of Brass. Brass, seems to be very popular and steel, a little less popular. I guess I have 2 questions here now... 1.  For an outside track, which track is best to use in a garden, Brass or Steel? and 2.  Does it matter if there is a mixture of the two? (ie...Steel track with Brass switches).

 

Any input would be very helpful..

 

David

 

 

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Welcome David.

 

When you say steel do you mean stainless steel?  On the LGB track I think that is likely the Nickel plated brass core track as I'm not sure LGB ever produced stainless.  Brass has traditionally been more widely used partly because it was the first type of track on the market but even now because of cost.  You can mix the two no problem.  I personally use Stainless Steel and am completely sold on it.  I've had it in my yard for about 10 years now and never need to clean it or have to deal with wheels caked up with crud (carbon dust) as you get with brass track.  Stainless is more expensive.  Other thing to note is that Stainless has a greater electrical resistance which means that when passing power through it, the greater the amperage (greater the load) you try to pass and the longer the length of track away from the last power feeder, the more voltage drop you will see.  I personally ran feeders every 24feet to mitigate this issue.  On the LGB Nickel plated track, I haven't used it but I would have to think it performs well and wont have the voltage drop issue.

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I stumbled across an old LGB switch that looks like nickle plate? It maybe stainless I forget now. I looked for more of them and never saw any again. This will be the first winter it is left outside and I'm interested to see how well it survives.

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Thank you, Ray, and yes I did mean stainless steel. I personally prefer the color of SS or Nichol as opposed to Brass...It just looks more authentic. I purchased my first Garden set called, "White Christmass Express", by Bauchmann.  The box has the track listed as, "Steel Alloy", but the paperwork inside says, "Stainless". So now I am confused for I can not locate any "Steel Alloy" track...

 

I do have another question about buildings/structures from scratch...I am actually home on convalescence leave from work and am very bored here, so I am looking to construct my first outdoor piece...not a building, but a 42" bridge.  I have done much research on buildings and have ordered some Plastiboard for my buildings. But I want to tackle the bridge first.  I have much experience in Balsa wood model aircraft kits, years ago. So this should be fun with the bridge. My question for outdoor structures is...1. what type of wood should be used for a structure like this, for strength and durability, and what to do to weather-proof it?

 

David  

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Thank you, Joe...Seems like I have been looking for a needle in a haystack when it comes to SS/Nichol switches.  I guess if I ever find one, I better jump on it!!!  lol Ray explained to me his set has been outside for 10 years, and it seems to be almost maintenance free. So you should have pretty good luck with it through this winter.

 

David

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I think Bachmann uses actual Steel track (not stainless) for their inexpensive starter sets.  You will need to look for either 'LGB Nickel' rail or 'Stainless Steel' rail.  Dont do your searches on 'Steel Alloy'

 

On the wood for the bridge I dont have a recommendation on that one.

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On 1/4/2017 at 10:53 AM, dcaldwell7tn said:

I do have another question about buildings/structures from scratch...I am actually home on convalescence leave from work and am very bored here, so I am looking to construct my first outdoor piece...not a building, but a 42" bridge.  I have done much research on buildings and have ordered some Plastiboard for my buildings. But I want to tackle the bridge first.  I have much experience in Balsa wood model aircraft kits, years ago. So this should be fun with the bridge. My question for outdoor structures is...1. what type of wood should be used for a structure like this, for strength and durability, and what to do to weather-proof it?

 

David  

 

Cedar is an excellent wood for outdoors.  It doesn't need any special weather proofing, but it will turn grey after a season outdoors.  You could stain it every season or two if you want some color in it.  Or you could make a metal bridge out of aluminum screen framing material.  I made one a few years ago.  I'm definitely not much of a metal worker, but this was pretty easy to do.  Here's a build log of it....

 

http://largescalecentral.com/forums/topic/16855/pratt-truss-bridge-for-iron-island-rr?page=1

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

-Kevin.

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